Remember back in February when we learned that Eide Bailly and Wipfli couldn't make their accounting firm love work? It was a sad occasion to see these two part ways after getting so excited about their pending merger, but the word on the street was that the "key terms" blamed for the fall-out were EB's Tom Petters exposure.
But here we are six months later and it appears that EB has managed to pick up the pieces and move on, announcing that they have found a firm, Schmitt, Griffiths, Smith & Co., that won't let a little thing like a Ponzi scheme get in the way of love:
The combination will increase Eide Bailly’s total staff to nearly 1,200, including 165 partners. Eide Bailly ranked 24th on Accounting Today’s 2012 of the Top 100 Firms. The firm’s total revenues for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2012, were $158 million, and SGS is expected to add another $6 million in revenue to the firm. The merger is part of Eide Bailly’s growth strategy to connect contiguous geographies. “SGS is a very successful organization with a strong practice in Utah,” said Eide Bailly managing partner Jerry Topp in a statement. “Bringing SGS into the Eide Bailly family will connect our Phoenix, Denver, Boise and Billings practice areas.”[…]SGS president Stuart Tholen will serve as partner-in-charge of the Utah practice. Other SGS partners joining Eide Bailly include Dan Milne, Nikki Thon, Ken Jeppesen, Eric Johnson and Brett Dagley. The merger is expected to enable the two firms to provide extra benefits to clients through expanded service lines. “We are excited to have the industry expertise that Eide Bailly will provide to our clients, community and state,” Tholen said in a statement. “It will also provide increased opportunities for our team to grow professionally under Eide Bailly’s strong training, mentorship and leadership development programs.”
